"Coming back is a dream come true, one that I didn't
think would happen so soon," said Barbee, who returns to
the University of Massachusetts as a men's basketball
assistant coach this season. "I know all the guys, and
now I can come back with some experience that goes
beyond the East Coast."

Barbee admits that a life on the prairie is not what he had
in mind, but one year of it had its value.

"Actually, I like it," said Barbee, who graduated from
UMass in 1993 and is the school's No. 4 all-time scorer
with 1,643 points. "It was a good learning experience, and
it's a good program."

Barbee explored coaching after a brief post-college
playing career in Europe. Despite the Minutemen's 14-16
slide last season, he insists UMass is still a national
name in college basketball.

"You'd tell kids where you were from, and their eyes
would light up," said Barbee, whose hiring was at least
partly made with an eye on improving UMass' recruiting
capabilities. "We can definitely have a national recruiting
presence."

Barbee's presence may give the UMass staff an
intermediary to bridge the gap between players and staff
this season. At 28, he's young enough to relate to
players but has been building the experience to serve as
an adult role model.

"It's important to develop relationships with the kids, to let
them know they can just come in and talk," he said. "It
doesn't have to be about a problem.

"The kids we have like to hang around the basketball
office when they have a chance, and it was like that when
I played, too," Barbee said. "It's not just about basketball,
and it's been that way around here for a long time."

Perhaps that's helped UMass produced a fair number of
coaches. Former players Derek Kellogg (Youngstown
State) and Tyrone Weeks (St. Bonaventure) also assume
new assistant coaching duties this season.

TOP FIVE:

UMass is reportedly still in the hunt for Taliek Brown, a
5-foot-11 point guard from St. John's Prep in Astoria, N.Y.
Several recruiting services have placed Brown among the
better available point guards in the country.

According to Van Johnson of FastBreak Recruiting,
Brown has narrowed his choices to UMass, St. John's,
Connecticut, Kentucky and Syracuse. He's not expected
to make a decision until after the season.

UMass is also pursuing Mike Boynton, another point
guard from New York City (Bishop Loughlin High in
Brooklyn). Brown is considered the better of the two, but
both can play.

Scott Hazelton, a 6-7 forward from Lawrence, will attend
UConn. Hazelton, who gave UMass serious consideration
but did not include the Minutemen among his final three
choices, chose the Huskies over Villanova and Syracuse
this week.